Hey guys! So I work in a pretty regulated environment with a few VERY old systems, and this is one of them...
I got called into work to look at a Gateway2000 4DX2-66, a system that I think is probably older than me. The system wasn't booting, and it all started with a system battery error message saying that the battery had died. I went up, took a look into it, and expected to just replace the CMOS battery and be done with it, of course it isn't that easy. So I searched the motherboard for a battery slot and found a few spots on the motherboard where it looks like one could have been, but wasn't you can see that in the pictures highlighted by the red boxes. One of these, towards the top says "BT1", and it has a circle that looks to be about the right size, but there's no retention slot to stick a standard CMOS battery, and no sign that there was ever one there. The other signs of a battery are more towards the center of the motherboard and can be seen well in the final picture, they say "Shunt for on-board battery" with an arrow pointing to a solder point, and "External Battery" above a few more solder points.
Now, the other thing I noticed was the large DALLAS DS12887 Real Time chip at the top of the motherboard next to the BT1 marking, I did some research on this chip, and removed it to look into it a bit, and from what I've read slash seen, it seems like this chip has a build in battery, and at the time was a pretty decent clock/calendar with built in RAM and battery chip. From the eBay and other various postings, it looks like this has a regular li-ion battery inside.
I'm 99% sure that my issue is with the battery, as I read from another user on these forums, seen here, as the last post, that this particular computer won't boot from anything besides the A: drive if the battery is dead, and in my BIOS, the only boot option listed in the A: drive.
So my question, after this fairly longwinded post, to all of you, is do any of you have any experience with these DALLAS type chips? Is there a chance that the battery built in to the chip IS in fact the CMOS battery for the entire system, or is it just a sort of time keeping battery? Let me know if you guys need any more information or pictures and I will try to provide them!
Any help is GREATLY appreciated, and here's another link to the imgur gallery of the pictures in case the hyperlink above doesn't work for some reason:
http://imgur.com/a/Ft3MD
I got called into work to look at a Gateway2000 4DX2-66, a system that I think is probably older than me. The system wasn't booting, and it all started with a system battery error message saying that the battery had died. I went up, took a look into it, and expected to just replace the CMOS battery and be done with it, of course it isn't that easy. So I searched the motherboard for a battery slot and found a few spots on the motherboard where it looks like one could have been, but wasn't you can see that in the pictures highlighted by the red boxes. One of these, towards the top says "BT1", and it has a circle that looks to be about the right size, but there's no retention slot to stick a standard CMOS battery, and no sign that there was ever one there. The other signs of a battery are more towards the center of the motherboard and can be seen well in the final picture, they say "Shunt for on-board battery" with an arrow pointing to a solder point, and "External Battery" above a few more solder points.
Now, the other thing I noticed was the large DALLAS DS12887 Real Time chip at the top of the motherboard next to the BT1 marking, I did some research on this chip, and removed it to look into it a bit, and from what I've read slash seen, it seems like this chip has a build in battery, and at the time was a pretty decent clock/calendar with built in RAM and battery chip. From the eBay and other various postings, it looks like this has a regular li-ion battery inside.
I'm 99% sure that my issue is with the battery, as I read from another user on these forums, seen here, as the last post, that this particular computer won't boot from anything besides the A: drive if the battery is dead, and in my BIOS, the only boot option listed in the A: drive.
So my question, after this fairly longwinded post, to all of you, is do any of you have any experience with these DALLAS type chips? Is there a chance that the battery built in to the chip IS in fact the CMOS battery for the entire system, or is it just a sort of time keeping battery? Let me know if you guys need any more information or pictures and I will try to provide them!
Any help is GREATLY appreciated, and here's another link to the imgur gallery of the pictures in case the hyperlink above doesn't work for some reason:
http://imgur.com/a/Ft3MD
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